This lesson focused on going up in lifts and coming down safely and we began by  watching a video on youtube of Mirva Mäkinen and Otto Akkanen. This video highlighted how important it is to remain in contact at all times to make the movement more fluid and exciting to watch, i found this particularly helpful as i often feel as though there are gaps within contact imrpvisation where i need t work on my fluidity and movement quality. Secondly, to prepare our bodies for this and get ourselves familiar with some of the movement that may be helpful we began the lesson by practicing some rolls along the floor. The rolls involved reaching our bodies and really stretching ourselves across the space. Over the last few weeks i’ve really been struggling with dizziness and nausea and therefore I feel that these rolls didn’t benefit me in the way that they may have done the other classmates as i couldn’t give 100% however I was still able to feel the stretch needed from my toes right up to my fingertips which were raised above my head which is still a beneficial feeling when going up in lifts as it meant that I felt more in control and focused within my own body.

My favorite lift of the session involved using the rolls from the start of the lesson. You began by positioning yourself side to side with your partner, who would then lunge into your waist area. The person who was then going up into the lift would pour their weight onto their partners back and balance themselves there. Once balanced comfortably the aim was to use a twist in the pelvis to roll up your partners back and finish at their shoulder level. This was really difficult to achieve as it involved a lot of engagement from the core muscles however i really enjoyed attempting it.

Works Cited/Reading:

Omegabranch (2011) Contact Improvisation Mirva Mäkinen and Otto Akkanen. [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMLbWxujoGw [Accessed 17 November 2014].

Curtis, B. (1988). Exposed to Gravity. Contact Quarterly/ Contact Improvisation Sourcebook I, Vol. 13. Pp.156-162.